Friday Flight - Social Security Fears, Increasing Anxiety, & Bundling is Back #861

Welcome to Had of Money.

I'm Joel, I'm Matt, and today we're talking about social security, fears, increasing anxiety, so lots of bad stuff, and then bundling is back. That's nice that you ended on behind o Joel talking about bundling as opposed to all the things that make us sad, that make us depressed, fear, anxiety, worry.

Yeah, tune into this episode. Are I feel like we do our best.

To try to avoid some of the fear mongering here on the show, but it is important to kind of talk about what it is that folks are facing. We're not trying to ignore the realities of you know, the average American. And this is going to be like a Zolaf for your ears, is what I'm gonna say.

Sure.

Also, so speaking of the average American, I bet there's a lot of folks watching the Olympics. Have you been watching the Olympics at all?

Join, We have been watching some. Yeah, I'm sure if you you if you were going to uh plunk down the change and uh We're gonna talk more about streaming later on the show. But I'll tell you this, the only reason we have Peacock is because Emily accidentally signed up for Instacart. I can, and so, but that comes with the free peacock, so we have Yeah, so we have peacock because of that.

So I thought you didn't have to be signed up.

We're auto unrenewed. But we unrenewed the auto renew so that it doesn't happen again.

I thought you could use Instacart without signing up for it.

Do you can? Yes, you can.

That's which is why I was so frustrated by it, as opposed to having the members. Not blaming my lovely wife, but just saying it happened completely again, so it's been included with your with your Instacart. Well, he said, do you pay for that a year in advance? Like, yeah, I think it's I forget, I think it's like one hundred bucks for a seer. But like, then again we got the peacock. At least we're not paying extra. Watch the Olympics, all right, frustrating, but there's a there's a

Star wrestling, Yeah, just a thumb wrestling specifically, But I thought, you know what.

Like that's something we're looking to change, and just the ability to be inspired by athletes that are at the top of their game. Like I think back to when I was a kid watching the ninety six Olympics in Atlanta Michael Johnson, Michael Johnson baby like watching him sprint in sprint towards gold and I'm like, come on, like that just made me want to get out there. Honestly, I wonder if that's the part of why I started running with my dad. Yeah, like around that point in time.

For sure? I think that's Olympics does that more than professional sports? Uh? Do you have a favorite moment so far? Ooh?

So we Okay, I haven't personally watched a ton. The kids they've certainly watched more Olympics than I have. The so gymnastic Okay, no, swimming, I'll say swimming because you know, early on in the Olympics there's a lot of gymnastics, a lot of swimming.

And specifically Katie Ladecki. Dude, what a beast. He's amazing her is what was.

The fifteen hundred freestyle? Her ability to just destroy everybody else, Like, to me, that is incredibly inspiring, Like it's not that long of her race for a second place to be ten seconds behind you.

Yeah, I don't know, man, that's just I love that. It's impressive.

And swimming is really impressive too, because I'm not a great swimmer. I never I've never like swimm competitively. I've never done a triathlon. And to see them just like cutting through the water like just glass.

It's just so bad for those trithletes swimming in that river, oh my gosh. Oh yeah, they're like it does not taste good. All right, And we'll get to the money saving stuff here in a second. But what about you though, Yeah, I think that my highlights so far was and I didn't watch it live, but just seeing it after the fact, was the US women's rugby team. The way they picked up that ball, they ran it in and they beat Australia.

On because he took a specific breakdancing class that he took.

What is that slated? I think that's like coming up in the week or so. So yeah, well literally you're gonna you're gonna that. We're gonna watch that for sure. I mean there's all these really interesting random sports that the Olympics hasn't I like getting into the kind of the nuanced ones too, because yeah, it is gymnastics, swimming and then track and field coming up. But then some of those weird ones are that those fun to.

Tune getten in for like archery, where they're like that's kind of impressive, yeah, but I precision that comes with like a beat.

Did you see there was a video there a bee landed on as they were shooting. It the craziest thing, and it messed up their shot. And you're like, you trained all these years and then that happen. It's it's unreal. All right, Enough about the Olympics. I hope you're enjoying watching it. But let's get to the Friday flight and the quick sampling of stories we found interesting this week. We're gonna talk about how they pertain to your personal finances.

The number is apparently ticked up from the eleven percent range to fourteen percent over the past couple of years, And Matt, I could see that number increasing as auto insurance rates continue to climb. Yeah, it's like this self fulfilling prophecy. Right, it continues to get worse because rates go up, people drop their car insurance. That reduces the number of custom that the insurance companies have, which only

Do more of those folks on the road. Yeah, our advice is not to become one of those uninsured motors. Sure.

And so this isn't backed in any research or anything like that, but I would be willing to guess that the same folks who have made the decision to not have insurance on their vehicle, which it's illegal in all but like a couple of states that those folks also probably don't make the best decisions in other areas of life, including whether or not they should should I sneak out there and try to make this turn.

When there's a car company. Yeah, you know, one thing I don't know the answer to is what percentage of accidents have an uninsured driver in that accident. I guess it's more than just a percentage of on insured drivers.

Yeah, And I don't know. I don't know is that fair seeing that? Is that judging a book.

By its cover? But I don't think so.

I've got to think that there is some positive correlation there between those two.

And I also, Matt judge books by their cover.

So sometimes you do. But yeah, increasing the coverage, certainly it might cost you more, but not having enough that could come back to bite you at the end of the day.

That's an example of being cheap not frugal.

And one thing that some folks are doing to save on car insurance without jeeping out is opting for pay by the mile insurance. So companies out there like Metro Mile they sprung up for this very reason, but many of the major issuers out there, they've sort of jumped on the spandwagon as well. But the fact is this only really makes sense for folks who don't drive much, like fewer than four thousand miles a year. That's typically the line of demarcation. If you're below that, you could

One other thing on that on this front, mat is you a lot of insurance companies will offer you a discount if you drive fewer miles, so they're not monitoring, but if you can prove to them, essentially that you drive fewer than seventy five hundred miles a year, and typically you're just auto, you're reporting your O doometer reading or whatever, and they'll send you something in the mail to just recertify, Hey, this is how many miles I drove in the past year. They'll offer you a discount

Yeah, exactly exactly, like it would take somebody who's like living in a city center, who works like three blocks away, that kind of thing. That's right, like your sister, perhaps they really might qualify. Yeah, I bet they would.

Yeah. All right, let's talk about Social Security for a second. The younger generation, they seem to overwhelmingly believe that Social Security has scam like elements, that they're paying into this system with every paycheck, but that they're never going to get to experience any future benefit, or at least not meaningfully. So confidence is lowest of course among the twenty and thirty somethings. Matt. You can call it paranoid, you can

Personal responsibility, yeah, and you taking more action to impact your taking matters into your hands personal future. Yeah, but this also might be taking things too far because I don't believe that these people are also going to get not a nothing from Social Security true when they hit their retirement age.

Yeah.

Yeah, we actually didn't in depth dive back in episode four thirteen on Social Security, and a lot of what we said back then remains true about social Security today because demographics they are not on our side. In fact, they've probably actually even gotten.

Worse since that episode. Yeah.

So like it's going to be strained in.

Most of their developed countries, but ours certainly in hours.

Yeah, but we're going to continue to see straining like on the system in the coming years with fewer folks paying into it, which means younger folks might see a reduction in benefits, which also means that you are likely going to need to bear more of the burden to fund your own retirement, which is why we can get excited about folks starting to take steps in that direction.

And I think it's also important to note. You might see you're going to see a projected amount based on your current income and the number of years that you've worked, assuming that you're going to continue to work the full amount of years in order to get to your maximum payout.

It's not going to be completely gone, but.

From all the projections, it seems like payouts will go down what in the in twenty thirty three, early twenty thirties for retirees if something's not done to fix this problem. So just note, yeah, look at the number, be encouraged, but also be a realist and realize that number probably isn't going to be exactly what you're gonna receive in retirement. We're gonna have to change the system in order to keep it solvent for future generations.

Yeah, I think it's just it's helpful to think about it. And I think we said this on that Deep Dive episode too that we did on Social Security. But almost see it as like like the cherry on top, right, Like, it's not like it's I don't know, do you think it needs to be more than that? Actually, well it's the three leg's still right, as we talked about it being like the nuts, because there's actual substance. Is that unfamiliar?

But it's actually you should int haal the whip cream bay exactly, and it can just get evaporate or something like that, it just melts.

But it's like there is some true substance to what it is that you're likely going to receive, but you just don't necessarily want to fully bank on that.

Yeah. I agreed, And so maybe don't go down the super dismal, pessimistic rabbit hole that some of the people profiled in this article. We're going down saying like I don't think I'm gonna get any money from that. Yeah, because it's a popular program, it's not going away completely. But also realize that Social Security ain't going to cover

Okay, so this was super weird that you would potentially lock up your money. You get paid a rate of four point seventy five percent, which is pretty good these days we're talking about a CD.

Does't makes any sense. But you lock up your money for.

A century, how would you do that? You'd have to be it's like a time capsule.

Yeah, it'll be fresh born hoping. So apparently this is like partly to be able to leave money to your heirs and.

So that's opens time capsules. Not you, but like the future generation exactly do that. And then but if you tap this this CD early, you pay ten years worth of interest, which it's incredible. And if you've got that long to wait, I would say, there are so few reasons not to be investing that money and said, so, yeah, I think the bank was called the Walden Mutual Bank.

Sorry, but I'm out. I'm not into that product.

Okay, while we're talking about planning ahead, oftentimes you do that when you are raising your kids. Let's talk about giving your kid a financial head start. There are certainly a lot of ways to do that. You could open one of these one hundred year CDs.

But at least once when they're eighty five.

One realistic way is to help them get a great credit score. There's new data from trains Union. They find that young people who are being granted authorized user access is more than.

Doubled over the past decade.

And so if you're a parent adding your child to your credit card accounts, that's going to allow them to launch into life with a great credit score. Of course, that assumes that you are making your payments on time, that you're paying off your balance on time and in full every single month. Otherwise you're gonna do the exact

I think every credit card issuer takes a different tact. I want to say, American Express, they have to be at least thirteen. So, yeah, look at the fine print and see, well how old does my kid have to be to become an authorized user? But you can start them on. You can start them as newborns. Oh yeah, it's totally impressive.

Yeah, that's going to give them a nice little head start. And I was thinking about it and it made me realize too that I think because of how easy it is, I think for those parents out there who aren't doing this, I almost feel like that like there's collective action that is taking place, and because it's so easy, because more folks are doing it, that essentially your kids almost like at a disadvantage because you're not taking advantage of this, you know.

Like it makes me think.

Of college, which there is a very high bar to entry, right, Like it costs a lot of money. You're looking at like a four year degree. But how like over the past number of decades, how many jobs and industries do we see where like the minimum threshold, like what you needed to have was at least a four your degree. Yeah,

And we know, of course, the credit score is only one piece of a healthy financial life, and don't obsess over and what you teach your kids matters more than making sure that they have a seven hundred and twenty credit score, seven hundred and fifty credit score when they turn eighteen. But this is just one thing you can do for them that takes a few minutes and you can kind of get them started off on the right foot,

Right, we are back for the break and Joel, we'll get to talking about your feelings here in a minute. We've got actually multiple stories about how does you feel? Did you see Inside Out? How I specifically feel about how you Yeah, okay, you're looking quite chipper this morning.

Did you did you see did y'all see Inside Out? Too? Oh? We did have. We already talked about that on the show. Oh, we might have. Okay, let's just stop solid. Okay, is that how we do things here? Yeah, this is a live edit. Now let's talk about anxiety, which is that was one of the characters the added to the movie, the main character. Yeah.

A new Discover survey finds that anxiety and avoidance that they are driving the financial lives of many Americans.

That's the headline of their report.

Yeah, which is not terribly shocking, but it's it's not good. Eighty percent of folks admit to feeling some anxiety about money, but roughly a third say that it is moderate to severe, and dude, ossibly it's like debilitating levels of anxiety exactly. But what stood out to me is the opposite, like the negative of that eighty percent, which is the fact that there are twenty percent of folks that basically feel zero stress about money.

Maybe, which who are these people?

They're sitting on their pillow in low disposition, not worrying about their money at all, floading through life. But even because, like I don't know, if you are doing a great job with your finances, you're crushing it, that doesn't mean that money isn't still a stressor at times. But of course I feel for the folks who just regularly feel anxious about money. For a decent chunk of folks, it's

Like we have some studies like that from like basic income studies that have been done, and is it interesting to see how families respond, How they end up working less, they end up feeling more financially secure, they end up seeming to have better relationships with the people they do life with. So I guess like that knowing that there's an increased paycheck coming in every single month, whether it's five hundred bucks or whatever, it does add to a lot of people's peace of mind.

Yeah, simultaneously that I think there's something disempowering about like some sort of UBI implementation. But so I guess as I'll think it through margin. Like what my mind went to was just like one of the other things that we have a finite amount of, which is time. Like just think about if you're trying to make an appointment or if you're trying to like if you're trying to catch a flight, you could leave at the very last minute.

Same thing is true when it comes to your finances and when we talk about anxiety and avoidance, Matt, we're also talking about kind of things that are going on in your mind. And you and I were not mental health professionals, and honestly, for some people, the best course of action might be to see somebody like a financial therapist. We've had a few different financial therapists on this podcast over the years, because we do think that mental side of money is so important, and so it's not just

Yeah, let's keep talking about feelings. Studies about money and happiness have found results all across the board. So there are some studies out there that suggest that there's a limit to the amount of happiness that money can buy, that basically, beyond a low six figure income, you're essentially going to see almost no increase to your levels of happiness. But there's a new study from the Wharton School that says that you can get even more happiness from money.

So the reason why, though, this is what's so important.

It's not because now all of a sudden you can afford a boat when that was something you only dreamed about before.

A researcher, I haven't met many happy boat owners. No, no, yeah, it's always I'm sure.

The curve of diminishing returns is like even steeper, looks like a boat than even like a new.

Car, rent a boat for the weekend, guys, by way, try that out.

But one of the researchers summed it up like this, and this is a quote, A greater feeling of control over life can explaining about seventy five percent of the association between money and happiness. So I think a big part of what's happening is that when people have more money, they have more control over their lives autonomy, like having

Well, we talked about that with our lives a little bit too recently at the beach matt and that was a super fun convo. Really enjoyed that one. Hope listeners enjoyed that one. But yeah, that that is what has over time, It's been that greater level of freedom, flexibility, and then that allows for optionality when it comes to how much we work, what sort of work we pursue and the ability to say no to things that we don't want to do. But that takes again, that takes time.

Spend it on your own freedom, right, not on stuff exactly.

So GQ, of all places, Matt, I know one of your favorite magazines, you're so stylish.

Oh, thank you, better than your favorite, which is maxim I remember that way?

Is that what? It still exists? Kidding? I don't know. Does Yeah, we won't go there, Okay, so all places. GQ had an article recently discussing how human beings are wired and basically that we get used to things incredibly quickly. We've talked about this before, Matt. The science behind kind of are our brains and hacking happiness and what's known

Not just something really cool happens, but even when something really like terrible happens, right, like the worst thing that could potentially happen to you in life, Because.

Like this, humans can overcome.

It was a study on quadriplegics, which is for a lot of folks, probably one of the worst things they could imagine. But even still those folks were able to regain this sort of baseline of happiness, which is astounding.

Yeah, so you know, winning the lottery or buying a new car feels amazing, but three months in, it's hard to remember how we used to live, and our appreciation for the new ride isn't the same. Fortunately, the same is true on the other side. Like you just mentioned, Matt, resilience is kind of built into our human DNA as well. And it just makes me think about our como with Darius Feru recently about stoicism. It's this powerful tool in our arsenal against the hedonic treadmill. So I would suggest

That's one that they got right, Joel as opposed to I don't know what colors you are and aren't allowed to wear at certain points right here. So it turns out bundling is back Disney Hulu as well as Max, which I'm still getting used to saying, not HBO Max. They just announced that the price that you're going to pay if you want all three is going to be seventeen dollars a month with ADS, and it's going to be thirty dollars without. If I was bundling, that would be the one that I'd be going for.

They're combining forces here exactly.

Exactly, and so that's a pretty solid discount over what you'd pay for each one of those individually. But streaming service operators, they aren't dumb. And part of the reason that they're doing this, that they're offering this new bundle, is because people are finally wising up. They're rotating out

Oh, seventeen bucks a month, Well, I get all three, so I'm just gonna keep it year round, exactly.

So you need to be like me and my family and resist like we've resisted Disney.

Still, you're not paying for any streaming services currently, right.

Well, we don't technically count Amazon Prime because that almost feels like it's hard to fault. Yeah, but yeah, I don't know. It's to the kids' dismay. That's one Disney in particular is one that we've been avoiding. But even though we did splurge on peacock.

I'm gonna give them some pitchforks so they can march around the house. Here.

Here is one reason that I felt very comfortable. So you know, you can justify it and try to inspire your kids to get out there and be an athlete that kind of thing, and it's just eh, the Olympics are fun, right, But also there is a finish line put a good metaphor as far as the Olympics. But there is a eight that I know I'm going to cancel peacock. You know what date that is, Joel, when the Olympics forever one month in. It is August twelfth, which is the day after August eleventh, which is when

I think that's exactly right. I think the bundle to the person who loves a good deal like myself. Matt. When I first read this, I was like, Oh, that's a great deal. And then the more I thought about it, I was like, do you have the time to be able to spend those services at the same time. That's the thing is, I really don't watch nearly as much

Just be ruthless about that. And I think that these bundles are gonna cause people to be less ruthless about cutting their subscriptions.

That's the whole point. It seems like a good deal. They're gonna make it easy for you.

Yeah, yeah, you're gonna end up spending more.

All Right. On the streaming note, an all sports streaming app is coming this fall. This has kind of been in the works, kind of being talked about for months and months and months now, and that's been for most people, matt the most expensive part of their cable or streaming package. So if you had cable back in the day and you didn't watch sports, you were the sucker because ESPN was by far the most expensive thing in your cable TV package and you were paying for it even while

Yeah, I think a lot of people will find themselves something like YouTube TV. It costs more, but it might provide the best of all worlds because you are getting some of those other channels included too.

Yeah, I think that can make sense.

It might be better than cable, But a lot of people going back to cable for good reason. I do think a lot of folks, though, are going to be willing to pay this higher price for sports because, like, if you think about other forms of entertainment, like other TV shows, there are a lot of replacements or whatever,

That's right, You're exactly right. By the way that I saw Roku is, which is free streaming, you can get Sunday Major League Baseball games or at least like one or two of them I think, on Roku for free these days. So that's kind of cool. Like almost nothing in the sports streaming world is free except for that.

That feels very like very American, like Sunday afternoon with a baseball game on.

Doesn't that sound good? Yeah? Well, and don't forget about Antenna's too, by the way, over the air, there's still a lot of stuff you can watch there, including some sports pretty easily as well. From yeah or for free I don't.

I still don't understand exactly how it works, but a lot of a lot of the new TVs like that, We've got a Samsung frame and we get hundreds of channels through the box somehow, like we are not paying for cable. And when we got this TV, I was playing into of course, hook up my thirty dollars digital HD antenna, you know, like the little flat thing he taped to the window. But then I realized I didn't have to do that. So there's just there's a lot of content out there that you don't even have to

Man.

That's gonna be it for this episode. We hope everybody has a fantastic weekend. We'll see you back here on Monday with a fresh batch of listener questions for you. So until next time, best Friends Out, Best Friends Out.